Featured Domains

Domain name registrar Alpnames has imploded, leaving hundreds of thousands of domain names temporarily stuck in purgatory. Thankfully, there is a solution for customers that want to access their accounts and move domains to another registrar.

Alpnames used the registrar platform LogicBoxes to manage its domains and you can still log into LogicBoxes’ system to access your domains.

The Alpnames Logic Boxes control panel is at apal516804.myorderbox.com. Choose “customer” from the dropdown box and enter your Alpnames credentials.

A new registrar will eventually take over Alpnames accounts, but it’s worth transferring at least your best domains for safe keeping.

It should give Alpnames customers some relief to know that a third party was managing Alpnames’ backend.

The company announced today that web hosting company HostGator will use its back end registrar services. HostGator currently has an ICANN accreditation but is registering domains as a reseller. The transition from reseller to registrar will occur in early 2011, and existing customers and resellers should not experience any impact.

According to DomainTools, HostGator currently manages over 1.3 million domains on its nameservers. It has offices in Houston and Austin.

LogicBoxes provides a registrar automation platform that enables registrars to offer over 50 top level domains while not worrying about the technology backend. It currently hosts over 75 ICANN accredited registrars.

Disclaimer: LogicBoxes is a service of Directi. I work for Directi’s media businesses.

LogicBoxes, a sort of “registrar/registry in a box” solution, announced today that it is the registrar backbone behind .Co Internet’s transition of .co domain names from Universidad de los Andes to its own platform.

.Co is being commercialized into a global brand this year. As part of the process, the .co registry needed to transition 27,000 already registered third level domain names (e.g. name.com.co) away from Universidad de los Andes, which previously managed .co.

Eventually, all of the .com.co domain names will be transitioned to one of the ten registrars that will be initially accredited to register .co domain names. However, the .co registry will continue to use LogicBoxes to maintain restricted domains including .org.co, .edu.co, .gov.co and .mil.co.

A number of domain name companies and individual domain investors use LogicBoxes to reap the benefits of owning their own registrar without the technical headaches.

LogicBoxes has been providing consulting services to help companies set up their own domain registrar for years. But this week the company unveiled a new push to help individual domainers set up their own registry.

Owning your own registrar gives your more security (remember RegisterFly?) and the lowest price since you don’t have to pay a registrar’s markup. Many large domainers, including Frank Schilling, frequently advocate setting up your own registrar. But it’s not for small time domainers; in addition to initial application and set-up fees it costs a minimum of $6,000 a year for maintaining your accreditation.

LogicBoxes updated program, called Domainer Accreditation Program, hand holds domainers through the process of setting up a registrar step-by-step. After a feasibility study, LogicBoxes prepares your application with ICANN and works to get it approved. After getting approved you’ll need to apply to each registry to register its domains (e.g. VeriSign for .com, mTLD for .mobi), and LogicBoxes works with you on that process. Finally, LogicBoxes provides the technical backend and ensures domainers meet their technical tests.